Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore have launched a celebrity-studded video campaign ostensibly to raise awareness about child sex trafficking.

The goal of the "Real Men don't buy girls" campaign is "to create a cultural shift around the buying and selling of humans," according to the press release.

This http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1375695/Ashton-Kutcher-Demi-Moore-launch-celebrity-video-campaign-address-child-sex-trafficking.html"> Daily Mail story quotes Kutcher citing these stats: "The average age of a girl involved in the sex trade is 13. And the average man who buys a girl is 30-years-old, has no prior criminal record, and has a well-paying job." Kutcher wants the campaign "to send a message addressing the male psyche."

Does anyone believe that the psyche of a pedophile will be so dismayed at being called out as not a 'Real Man' by the former host of Punk'd that he will rethink his purchasing power?  

Rather than trying to emasculate a pedophile's male psyche, might it be more useful to talk about the social and economic circumstances that lead to the worldwide trafficking and victimization of children? By making videos that equate 'real men' as those who do laundry, make meals and "don't buy girls," turns the issue into a joke.

This bizarre campaign looks like an SNL spoof of a public service announcement.

However well intentioned, it trivializes its cause. It turns attention from the victims to the perps, as if an assault on the image of sexual traffickers is a meaningful and legitimate way to 'raise awareness' of the issue. The men who buy and exploit girls for sex are far worse than simply falling short of Demi and Ashton's "Real Man" standards.

And the tagline "Real Men don't buy girls" raises the unfortunate question: Do Real Men buy women instead?